Can the Sharks close the revolving door on Thornton, Pavelski’s left wing via trade?

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San Jose Sharks’ Joe Pavelski (8) and San Jose Sharks’ Joe Thornton (19) are photographed during a break in the action against the Florida Panthers in the third period of their NHL game at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, Feb.15, 2017. (Josie Lepe/Bay Area News Group)

“I haven’t found one yet. We’ve got to keep (looking),” DeBoer said. “Our forwards in general, we’re going to keep mixing and matching. We’ve split up Jumbo (Thornton) and Pav (Pavelski) for a couple periods, we’ve moved some other guys around. We’ll keep shuffling the deck until we get some production.”

At this point, it seems like magic thinking to assume that a plug for the top line hole will suddenly materialize from the group of forwards in the dressing room.

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The Sharks could attempt to solve the problem internally in a couple of different ways, but both options are likely to create new complications.

DeBoer could reunite Tomas Hertl with Thornton and Pavelski, the most effective top line combination the Sharks have skated over the last four years. Hertl scored 15 goals in 35 games while skating with Thornton and Pavelski as a rookie in 2014-15, and the Sharks produced a 26-14-4 record with a trip to the Stanley Cup Final after he put them back together in 2015-16.

“Logan Couture’s been our best player. Him and Tomas have played well together and I think Tomas has been a big part of his success,” DeBoer said, explaining why he’s hesitant to reunited Hertl with Thornton and Pavelski.

The Ottawa Senators gave up six pieces in a three-way trade with the Nashville Predators and the Colorado Avalanche last week to acquire Matt Duchene, a reason why Pavelski insisted that the answer must, “come from within.”

“It’s got to,” the Sharks captain said. “It’s too hard to go find somebody, especially with the way the NHL is. Maybe something comes, maybe it doesn’t, but by no means are we looking, as players, that we need something else. We have guys that are more than capable. We’ve proven it in the past.”

Two of the big-name players that could be on the market this winter — the Buffalo Sabres’ Evander Kane and the Dallas Stars’ Jason Spezza — are less than ideal fits.

Kane possesses a lot of the attributes the Sharks are looking for in a top line winger. He’s fast, he’s strong on the puck and he ranks fifth in goals since Dec. 1. 2016. But he also carries a lot of baggage. He was run out of Winnipeg by his teammates three years ago after showing up late to a team meeting and the Sharks place a high emphasis on character when they acquire players from outside.

The incident also occurred under the watch of Jets head coach Paul Maurice, who gave DeBoer his first coaching job, so it’s likely that the Sharks bench boss might be hesitant to go down that road.

Kane would probably cost the Sharks a defenseman, such as Tim Heed or Joakim Ryan, a young forward and a draft pick, a high price to pay for a player that might not fit in with the culture of the dressing room.

Jason Spezza is another name churning in the rumor mill. Spezza scored 33 goals in 2015-16 and notched 50 points last year. He’d bring much-needed skill and scoring to the Sharks top-six forward group, but he’s 34 and comes with a $7.5 million price tag next season.

After cutting ties with Marleau in the offseason, the last thing the Sharks need is to overpay for another forward in his mid-30s when they suddenly have the luxury of cap space in their budget.

Without any obvious solutions, the Sharks might be stuck trying to fix the problem internally, which means more deck shuffling for DeBoer.

“It’s not a perfect world. I’d love to have a (Steven) Stamkos, (Nikita) Kucherov line here,” the Sharks coach said. “But we don’t have that right now and we’ve got to look for different answers.”